HEALTH SCIENCES
AIHS Center for Quality in Healthcare
All Health Science Programs offered by AIHS are affiliated to Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Bangalore and Govt. of Karnataka. Therefore, for induction in a program all eligibility norms have to be approved by RGUHS.
Physiotherapy Overview:
Physical therapists operate as independent practitioners, as well as members of health service provider teams, and are subject to the ethical principles of WCPT. They are able to act as first contact practitioners, and patients/clients may seek direct services without referral from another health care professional. According to World Health Organization physiotherapists are defined as:
“Physiotherapists assess, plan and implement rehabilitative programs that improve or restore human motor functions, maximize movement ability, relieve pain syndromes, and treat or prevent physical challenges associated with injuries, diseases and other impairments”.
Physical therapists apply a broad range of physical therapies.
Physical therapists are qualified and professionally required to:
- Undertake a comprehensive examination/assessment of the patient/client or needs of a client group
- Evaluate the findings from the examination/assessment to make clinical judgments regarding patients/clients
- Formulate a diagnosis, prognosis and plan
- Provide consultation within their expertise and determine when patients/clients need to be referred to another healthcare professional
- Implement a physical therapist intervention/treatment programme
- Determine the outcomes of any interventions/treatments
- Make recommendations for self-management
PHYSIOTHERAPY SPECIALIZATIONS
- Neurological and psychosomatic disorders
- Musculoskeletal disorder and Sports
- Paediatric
- Cardiopulmonary
- Gynaecologic and urologic physiotherapy
- Geriatric
- Integumentary
Cardiopulmonary:
In cardiovascular and pulmonary rehabilitation physical therapists treat a wide variety of individuals with cardiopulmonary disorders or those who have had cardiac or pulmonary surgery.
Primary goals of this specialty include increasing endurance and functional independence. Manual therapy is used in this field to assist in clearing lung secretions experienced with cystic fibrosis.
Disorders, including heart attacks, post coronary bypass surgery, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and pulmonary fibrosis, treatments can benefit from cardiovascular and pulmonary specialized physical therapists.
Geriatric:
Geriatric physical therapy covers a wide area of issues concerning people as they go through normal adult aging but is usually focused on the older adult. There are many conditions that affect many people as they grow older and include but are not limited to the following: arthritis, osteoporosis, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, hip and joint replacement, balance disorders, incontinence, etc.
Geriatric physical therapy helps those affected by such problems in developing a specialized program to help restore mobility, reduce pain, and increase fitness levels.
Neurological and psychosomatic disorders:
Neurological physical therapy is a discipline focused on working with individuals who have a neurological disorder or disease.
These include Alzheimer’s disease, Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT), ALS, brain injury, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injury, and stroke. Common impairments associated with neurologic conditions include impairments of vision, balance, ambulation, activities of daily living, movement, speech and loss of functional independence.
Orthopaedic:
Orthopaedic physical therapists diagnose, manage, and treat disorders and injuries of the musculoskeletal system including rehabilitation after orthopaedic surgery. This specialty of physical therapy is most often found in the out-patient clinical setting.
Orthopaedic therapists are trained in the treatment of post-operative orthopaedic procedures, fractures, acute sports injuries, arthritis, sprains, strains, back and neck pain, spinal conditions and amputations. Joint and spine mobilization/manipulation, therapeutic exercise, neuromuscular re-education, hot/cold packs, and electrical muscle stimulation (e.g., cryotherapy, iontophoresis, electrotherapy) are modalities often used to expedite recovery in the orthopaedic setting.
Paediatric:
Paediatric physical therapy assists in early detection of health problems and uses a wide variety of modalities to treat disorders in the paediatric population. These therapists are specialized in the diagnosis, treatment, and management of infants, children, and adolescents with a variety of congenital, developmental, neuromuscular, skeletal, or acquired disorders/diseases.
Treatments focus on improving gross and fine motor skills, balance and coordination, strength and endurance as well as cognitive and sensory processing/integration. Children with developmental delays, cerebral palsy, spina bifida, or torticollis, may be treated by pediatric physical therapists.
Integumentary:
Integumentary (treatment of conditions involving the skin and related organs). Common conditions managed include wounds and burns. Physical therapists utilize surgical instruments, mechanical lavage, dressings and topical agents to debride necrotic tissue and promote tissue healing. Other commonly used interventions include exercise, edema control, splinting, and compression garments.
Sports Physiotherapy:
Sports Physiotherapy is a physiotherapy specialization in which sport injuries are treated.
Sports physiotherapists also advice people how to avoid sports injuries as well as try to help them to get better a their respective sports.
Their work includes examining and diagnosing injuries in the field, being specially important their quickness in figuring out what is happening to the sportsman.
Skills which should be the main strength of sports therapists are manual therapy, therapeutic exercise and the application of electrotherapy.
Gynecologic and urologic Physiotherapy:
Gynecologic and urologic Physiotherapy is specialized in treatments which try to avoid incontinence problems.
To achieve this goal physiotherapists will have to focus his/her treatments in strengthening the pelvic floor muscles of the patient.
These exercises can be taught at first in the clinic and afterwards made by the patient at home. As it is known incontinence problems create a big social problem for patients in their daily life.
The scope of physical therapy practice is not limited to direct patient/client care, but also includes:
- Public health strategies
- Advocating for patients/clients and for health
- Supervising and delegating to others
- Leading
- Managing
- Teaching
- Research
- Developing and implementing health policy, locally, nationally and internationally
Settings in which physical therapy is practiced:
Physical therapy is delivered in a variety of settings, which allow it to achieve its purpose.
Prevention, health promotion, treatment/intervention, habilitation and rehabilitation take place in multiple settings that may include, but are not confined to, the following:
- Community based rehabilitation programs
- Community settings including primary health care centers, individual homes, and field settings
- Education and research centers
- Fitness clubs, health clubs, gymnasia and spas
- Hospices
- Hospitals
- Nursing homes
- Occupational health centers
- Out-patient clinics
- Physical therapist private offices, practices, clinics
- Prisons
- Public settings (eg shopping malls) for health promotion
- Rehabilitation centers and residential homes
- Schools, including pre-schools and special schools
- Senior citizen centers
- Sports centers/clubs
- Workplaces/companies